Less-lethal methods for subduing dangerous and potentially dangerous subjects are desirable alternatives for law enforcement, security, corrections officers, and military personnel. In addition to conventional firearms, less-lethal methods, such as stun-guns, are often deployed by a military unit, law enforcement department, or corrections staff to broaden available options to subdue violent or dangerous subjects. Some prior art electric discharge weapons require physical contact to deliver an electric arc between two electrodes, which produces significant localized pain when placed in physical contact with a subject. Other electric discharge weapons, such as handheld TASER brand units, fire dart-like electrodes from a handheld apparatus, wherein the darts are tethered to wires which remain electrically connected to the handheld apparatus. The dart-like electrodes are pointed and barbed to penetrate clothing and remain in place after contact with the subject. Electrical current from the handheld apparatus and is delivered to the subject resulting in neuromuscular incapacitation which transiently disrupts normal neuromuscular functioning permitting the subject to be more-safely subdued.
Relatively recently, as alternatives to hand-held electric discharge weapons, free-standing stationary units having a single or multiple array of firing cells or cartridges have been described. Because they fire several shots simultaneously, multi-cartridge electric discharge weapons may be particularly useful to protect an area, provide crowd control, or employed in specialized situations such as riot control. Additionally, multi-cartridge electric discharge weapons may be useful in correctional facilities to control a variety of commonly-encountered events such as containing violent subjects, controlling violent prison yard fights involving multiple combatants, and subduing subjects armed with a weapon under circumstances where deadly force is not authorized. Additionally, the use of multi-cartridge firing units, mounted on a vehicle, such a police vehicle, has been described as well. Without doubt, stationary and vehicle-mounted multi-cartridge electric discharge weapons offer law enforcement personnel valuable options.
In some cases, however, it may be advantageous to quickly move the system from a fixed status to a mobile hand-carried status. For example, moving the system may be required where a tactical decision is made to redefine an area of protection, or where hostile subjects are too numerous or too dispersed for effective utilization. Additionally, in some cases, it may be necessary to rapidly move such a system to prevent hostile subjects from acquiring control of the device. Furthermore, where the attendant tactical circumstances require, is desirable to provide law enforcement personnel with an option to rapidly convert a stationary or vehicle-mounted system into a system which may be hand-carried, moved, and fired. Moreover, in some circumstances a stationary or vehicle mounted system does not provide adequate targeting accuracy. Human control of a multi-cartridge electrical discharge weapon may permit a more refined, efficient, and safe application of force. Further, human control of a multi-cartridge electrical discharge weapon will serve as a force-multiplier—allowing a single user to subdue a relatively large number of hostile subjects. Additionally, there are applications to use a hand-held multi-cartridge electrical discharge weapon in circumstances involving a single subject. A single cartridge weapon requires that both electrodes make sufficient contact with the subject to complete the circuit and subdue the subject. In contrast, a hand held multi-cartridge electrical discharge weapon (which can by example, file 12 electrodes) dramatically increases the probability that at least two of the electrodes will make sufficient contact to subdue the subject.